5 Ways to Maximize Your Music PR Campaign Before It Even Starts

You just received your finished masters, and you can't wait to share your masterpiece with the world. You upload it to Bandcamp, and then begin typing your Facebook and Twitter status updates telling all your fans and followers to check it out. If that scenario sounds familiar, you may just be limiting your band's success.

There are five things you need before you even think about starting your music PR campaign, and they're the same things we look for from the bands we represent at Green Light Go to maximize each campaign's success.

1. Write a Strong Bio

If your current bio starts with, "[Insert band name here] is the most unique rock band out there," you most likely need to put together a new bio. The same goes if your bio is a checklist of all your achievements. While those types of bios are important for booking purposes, media will want to see one of two things: a great story and/or great, non-hypey musical descriptions that create an image of what you sound like. As a general rule, hipster indie blogs tend to prefer strong music descriptions while more traditional outlets prefer a great story. Want a winning combo? Integrate both elements into your bio.

2. Take a Stellar Publicity Photo

I've preached the importance of great publicity photos ad nauseam, but that's just how important they are. This is the first impression of the band, and the photos you choose to send out tell the media how important is to you to achieve success. If there is one area you should invest in, this is it. Find a photographer who can tell your band's story through a great image.

3. Begin Your Campaign 16 Weeks in Advance of Your Release Date

Media is more inundated and underpaid than it's ever been, so you need to start promoting your release 16 weeks in advance not only to meet media deadlines, but also to have time to build awareness due to an insane demand for press contacts' time.

It's all about the music – or as you've learned from the four preceding steps, it isn't. Your music, photos, bio, and social networks can only take you so far. You should be looking at other reasons why media should care about your band enough to feel like you're ready for the next level. This can be done by aligning with a blog or a friendly DJ to remix a track, covering a song by a band who's currently in the news, playing shows with established bands, or playing a major music festival.

Want to know if your band is media friendly? Get access to our media audit checklist to ensure that your media presence is a good match for your music and will help elevate your appeal to music outlets.

Janelle is the owner of Green Light Go. When she's not spreading the word on her favorite bands she can usually be found riding her road bike through Michigan, designing super hip clothes or analyzing people much to their dismay.Find Out More…

What They're Saying

In a sea of empty press and publicity promises—GLG is like an oasis. Impeccably organized, all the right connections, and suggestions on where and with whom to work your projects (no matter the size)—Ms.Rogers is the best press agent we have worked with in the last five years.